Facing the Shadows
by LilyBelleMichele188
Summary: Following the defeat of Thanos, former Russian Assassin Tatiana Romanoff goes to the new Avengers' Headquarters to collect some of her late older sister's belongings only to be sent on a mission with the former Winter Soldier to take down an old Russian Hydra base, where they both find themselves facing the biggest demons in their past.


_**Identified...Agent Tatiana Romanoff cleared for entry.**_ The soft feminine robotic voice echoed from the speakers as the set of automated doors hissed open to allow the slender young woman standing before it to enter into the facility beyond.

Her cool green eyes barely took in everything around her as she focused on the silvery doors of the elevator in front of her.

Passing figures turned their heads when she passed them, eyes briefly flickering in recognition and sympathy when they realized who she was and why she was here.

A few, namely a couple of new male hires gaped at her and the distinct red color of her hair which always drew the attention of anyone walking near the Romanoff Sisters.

Tatiana took no notice of them however as she quickly hit the up button and waited, tucking her bottom lip into her mouth in slight anxiety as she waited for the lift to reach the ground level.

As the resounding ding of the bell reached her ears, she crossed her arms across her chest and stepped briskly into the elevator, not hesitating before hitting the button that would take her to the floor she was instructed to go to in the message she'd recieved earlier that morning.

As the elevator began to make its ascent up the multi-storied building that was fashioned as the new Avengers' Headquarters, the former Assassin moved one of her hands to grasp at something hidden under the collar of her jacket.

"Ah, you're here. Great! I've got something for you." The familiar voice made Tatiana look up and she managed a weak smile before dropping her arms back at her side.

"So I've heard. It's good to see you again, Steve." She nodded at the former Captain, assuming her usual cool and assured demeanor as she stepped from the elevator to the large room her friend stood in.

Steve nodded and held out a hand for her to shake. "Likewise, though I wish it were under slightly better circumstances." His hand went up to rub the back of his head after shaking her hand.

"How...how have you been holding up?" He asked, as if worried his question might trigger an explosion of some kind.

Tatiana shrugged. "All things considering, not too bad. If you'd like a detailed report, I would suggest calling up Banner and asking how his lab's looking right now." She smirked and crossed her arms again.

A dry chuckle escaped from the Captain's lips though Tatiana could still see the sadness lurking in those bright blues as he motioned for her to follow him further into the room.

"Come on back. There's something I want to give you before we get started on business." He spoke, leading her to the door of an office Tatiana remembered belonged to Steve ever since the Avengers were first officially put together.

When Steve opened the door however, both were met by the presence of a tall dark figure sitting in Steve's chair with his feet propped up on the desk and his gaze pointed out the covered window.

Seeing him, Steve paused then sighed and shook his head before addressing the figure. "Sam, I told you. You don't start officially in the position until tomorrow. What are you doing in here?" He asked, a slight grin on his face as the man swiveled around to face them, his feet sliding off the desk and hitting the floor with a thump as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on top of a box that was sitting on top of the desk.

"Getting used to the new digs. You got a fantastic view of Manhattan from here, did you know that? Hey Tia." He waved at Tatiana with a bright cheeky smile on his face and she returned it with a nod and a coy one.

"Hi Sam."

"You still look great. The Ex-Cap bringing you in on a detail?" He asked, resting his chin on top of his hands as he spoke.

Sighing, Steve finally moved forward to grab the box from underneath Sam's arm. "As a matter of fact, yes. Now keep your feet off the desk and don't touch anything. I'm not cleaning out my effects until this evening and the last thing I need is for something important to go missing." He muttered, turning to leave and nodding for Tatiana to do the same.

"Oh no worries, Ex-Cap. I'll make sure no one comes in and tries to read your diary." He joked, making Tatiana snort softly with laughter as she turned to follow a softly grumbling Steve out of the office.

"So it's true then. You're really retiring from the Avengers?" She asked, sitting down across the table from him as Steve sat on one side of the long conference table located in the main area of the room.

Sighing, Steve nodded and gently pushed the box towards her. "Yup. Sharon and I have been working on getting a place outside of the city. Somewhere peaceful where the both of us can find some closure." He looked up to meet her gaze and found Tatiana nodding in response to his words.

"I'm still working on finding some closure myself." She said half to herself. "Bruce has been a lot of help of course, but..." She trailed off, her hand grabbing at the object under her jacket again.

Steve nodded. "I know. I miss her too. She was a true friend in the end...A real Avenger." His voice took on a longing tone then and Tatiana leaned forward, her eyes zeroing in on the box Steve had brought from his old office.

"So what's in the box?" She asked, not wanting to linger on thoughts about her dead sister. Collecting himself, Steve cleared his throat and reached to open the box.

"Just some of Nat's things that I managed to convince the staff not to disassemble or get rid of some other way. I thought you might want to keep them for...either practical or sentimental reasons." He shrugged as Tatiana leaned forward a bit to look through the contents of the box.

"Oh wow!...You were very thorough, Rogers." She looked up to smirk at the former Captain who shrugged a bit bashfully. "I tried my best." He sat back in his seat a bit as Tatiana lifted what appeared to be a pair of batons first from the assortment of object he had hurried bundled into the box.

Tia studied them for a moment before hitting a button on the side of each baton and causing them to hum to life.

"They said those were her spares. I know you have your own, but...I thought you might want to have those too." Steve explained, watching with interest as Tatiana deftly swung the batons around a bit with expert technique, before powering them back down and setting them aside.

Looking back into the box, a soft smile spread across her face when she spotted and pulled two leather jackets from inside. "She wore this one during our first big battle as Avengers." She clutched the black one closer to herself before setting it aside and picking up the army green colored one that had been underneath it.

Instead of setting it aside with the other jacket, Tatiana flipped this one around in her hands and after thinking for a second slipped her arms through the sleeves.

Steve raised an eyebrow as he watched the younger Romanoff pull the material of the jacket around her waist, straightening the collar before looking up to meet his gaze.

"What do you think, Cap? Do I rock it as well as she did?" She asked and Steve chuckled. "It suits you." He responded after a moment, resting his cheek against the palm of his hand.

Responding with a grin, Tatiana bent to explore the rest of the items in the box, keeping the jacket on.

"Let's see, we've got Nat's old personality file." Tia picked up a large manila folder and briefly looked over the papers inside it before reaching inside the box again.

"Oh! I didn't know she kept this. This is the picture Clint made us take when Tony took us all for Shwarma after the Chitauri battle. He tried so hard to get us to smile." Tatiana chuckled as she picked up a small framed photo and studied the stoic, non-smiling and slightly disheveled faces of herself and her older sister.

Their hair was noticeably mussed from the fight they'd been in prior to the taking of this picture and both of them had their arms crossed, annoyed because Clint insisted on taking some pictures to commemorate the day.

"I remember that. I really thought either you or Nat was going to jump the table at some point when Barton tried to get you guys to hug for the picture." Steve laughed again as the memory came back to him.

Tia laughed with him. "To be honest, I was considering putting a little knot on his head. Nothing more than that though." She shrugged, gazing at the picture for a moment longer before setting it aside and looking back at the box one more time.

Suddenly, the color blanched from her face and an audible gasp burst from her lips as she saw the tiny object laying at the bottom of the old cardboard container.

With one hand, she reached inside and bit her lip as her fingers closed around something cold, light and metallic. Tears stung her eyes and she looked up at Steve again.

"How...how did you get this? She never takes it off." Tia asked, biting her lip as she opened her fist to look down at the necklace which matched the one she was wearing.

Steve sighed shakily. "Barton brought that to me when he heard I was putting together a couple of Nat's old things to give to you. He said, she gave that to him before she died..and...she asked him to give it to you." He explained, looking down and blinking as if trying to hold back tears of his own.

Tatiana gazed at the little half coin that hung around the old rusted chain, reaching almost instinctively for her own necklace where the other half of the coin hung.

Closing her fist back around the little object, Tia looked up at Steve with gratitude in her eyes. "Thank you." She moved to put the necklace into her pocket and gathered the other items to put back into the box.

"Thank you for going through the trouble of keeping these for me. Especially the necklace. I really appreciate it, Steve." She said sincerely, closing the box after getting everything inside and pulling it a little closer to herself.

Taking a deep breath, Steve nodded leaning forward across the table a bit. "It's no problem. I figured it's the least I could do for you." He started to reach for a tablet that had been sitting on his left since they sat down at the table together when the door next to the elevators Tia had taken up to the Captain's level swung open admitting a familiar brown haired figure.

Tatiana looked up just in time to meet his eyes. Bucky paused mid-walk across the area when he saw her and Steve sitting at the conference table.

"Oh!...Sorry, should have I waited outside? I thought that-."

"No, you're right on time Buck. Come on over. Have you officially met Tatiana?" Steve asked, cutting his old best friend off as he motioned to Tia with his arm.

Bucky shrugged and continued walking towards the table, his eyes meeting Tatiana's briefly before he quickly took a seat next to her and across from Steve.

"Uh...hi. Bucky Barnes." He greeted a bit awkwardly, holding out his flesh hand. Managing a smile, Tatiana took his hand in hers and gave it a gentle shake before releasing her grip.

"Hi. I'm Tia Romanoff." She said, knowing the former Winter Soldier probably didn't remember their last real encounter given he had been under the power of Hydra's brainwashing.

She barely stifled a chuckle when she saw the soft, slightly shy look in his eyes now and mentally compared it to the cold, murderous expression he'd been sporting when he grabbed her by the throat and tossed her into a row of cafe tables during the struggle at the old Headquarters.

Bucky started to give her a questioning look when Steve cleared his throat, gaining both of their attention again as he picked up the tablet and flicked quickly through it before turning it around so that the two of them could see what he had pulled up.

"This..is the supposed location of another hidden old Hydra base. Sources say that it's long since abandoned, but I had a squad go out and do recon for any slight traces of activity last week and...I'm going to need you two go in, delete and dismantle any suspicious data or material you find and take out anyone who tries to get in your way. Any questions?" Steve asked, not receiving an answer immediately from either of his friends and former teammates.

Tia was the first look up. "This...says the base is in northern Russia." She said slowly. Steve nodded as Bucky's jaw clenched at the realization.

"I know. That's why I arranged for you two to take this one. I know it's personal for both of you in different ways and I thought you'd appreciate having a hand in destroying the organization that caused you two so much pain. That doesn't mean you guys should allow yourselves to get reckless though. This is still a team mission and we don't know if Hydra is still regularly accessing this location or not." Steve responded.

Bucky sucked in an audible breath and Tia nodded, clenching her fists even tighter as she tried not to focus on the images that were running through her mind at the moment.

"Got it." She muttered, not looking at either Steve or Bucky as she looked back down at the tablet.

"Bucky?" Steve asked when his best friend remained silent. Finally Bucky sighed and sat up straighter in his seat. "When do we leave?" He asked gruffly. Steve nodded at him.

"In two days. Take some time to look over everything together and formulate a plan. I'm officially retired after tomorrow, but Sam will be overseeing your mission after I leave. Contact him if you have any concerns or questions." He moved to stand from his seat.

"Will you guys be okay with this?" He asked, looking from Bucky to Tia with genuine concern, knowing just how personal this mission was for both of them.

Exchanging glances, both former assassins nodded. "We got this, Rogers. Thanks." Tia said softly while Bucky reached to pull the tablet closer to him.

Nodding, Steve moved to leave the area. "Great. Good luck you two and be careful out there." He grabbed his jacket off of the chair and slung it over his arm before walking off towards the elevators.

"Don't worry, Punk." Bucky muttered, looking up the tablet and glancing at Tia smugly before continuing. "We've got this." Tia returned his look with a smug grin of her own.

...


End file.
